Running a Bug Bash

For any solo tester out there I recommend leading a regular bug bash/mob testing activity. It’s an activity you can run at the end of a sprint/feature dev cycle. You invite the team, get some snacks/beverages together and get everyone testing for around an hour.

Setup

You might want to make sure you have good device/browser coverage by ensuring everyone is set up with data/devices before hand. You might also want to prepare some help docs to help people get started. I like to have a mindmap on coverage ideas prepared before hand so people have a visual indicator of what they are testing. I might also create a bunch of test accounts before hand and distribute them to the team.

I use this whiteboard for running bugbashes at Insight Timer; regression on the left, what’s changed recently in the middle and “other” things to consider on the right

Light Bug reporting

You should encourage light weight bug reporting;

  • maybe people write bugs on sticky notes
  • add bugs to a shared spreadsheet
  • or raise Jira bugs directly from Slack using a /jirio create bug shortcut

The focus should be on finding bugs, not getting caught up in how to report them. You can always clarify issues further after the bug bash if you need more information.

What to test in a bug bash

I have a 3 step heuristic for deciding what to test (think; guide or rule of thumb):

  1. what’s changed recently? Change introduces new risk. what features have been built? What code has been refactored? What libraries have been updated? Focus the team to test these areas first
  2. Regression testing. Have a checklist of at most a dozen scenarios of core functionality (maybe around registration, payments and the main stuff people do with your product). Ask people to consider these cases while doing 1), maybe ask people to put there name next to a case when they test it so you can get an idea of coverage
  3. What other testing should/could we do? Sometimes it might make sense to do a pen test bug bash session or a performance testing bash or a cross browser test bash but it doesn’t have to happen every time

Test in Production

If you can; test in production. There’s no environment quite like it.

Put on your ruby red slippers and repeat after me, "there's no place like prod"
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore – Wizard of Oz

But if you can’t test in production, make sure your test environment is stable, your data is set up and you’ve given your team the “Do Not Touch except for bug bash testing” request.

Post Bug Bash

Make sure to thank people for their time, count up the bugs and give kudos to your best bug hunter. Testing/Quality is a team responsibility after all. Send out a thank you email with results and award trophies. I’ve handed out this trophy of a rhino bug in resin on a trophy base to our number one bug hunter before:

rhino bug in resin on a trophy base
Bug Bash Trophy

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